Oluyinka Oyeniji, a Lagos-based lawyer, has dragged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney-General of the Federation to court over the renaming of the University of Lagos.
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Oluyinka Oyeniji, a Lagos-based lawyer, has dragged President Goodluck Jonathan and the Attorney-General of the Federation to court over the renaming of the University of Lagos.
The suit, FHC/L/CS/575/2012, was filed this evening at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, and it seeks the court's interpretation of the 1967 Act establishing the University of Lagos.
Mr. Oyeniji, who is also a Masters Degree student of the University of Lagos, is requesting the court to interpret four questions:
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-Whether the President is empowered under the University of Lagos Act 1962 amended in 1967 and as contained in Chapter U9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 as amended, to change the name of the University;
-Whether the action of the President by declaring in his broadcast that the name of the University is ultra - vires the provisions of the Act establishing the University and therefore null and void and of no effect;
-Whether the action of the President by declaring in his broadcast that the name of the University be changed is a breach of the doctrine of separation of powers which Nigeria practices under its Presidential System of Government; and
-Whether the Honourable Court should, in the circumstances reverse the name of the University to its original state being the name with which the Act establishing it provided for in its long title, short title, interpretation section and the entire body of the Act.
In his Democracy Day broadcast on Tuesday, President said he was changing the name of the university to Moshood Abiola University. That has sparked outrage among students, alumni, organizations and citizens since then. Demonstrations at the university have led to its being shut down for two weeks.
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